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The Society

Mission Statement

The Theosophical Society in America . . .

Has a Vision of wholeness that inspires a fellowship united in study, meditation, and service.

Its Mission is to encourage open-minded inquiry into world religions, philosophy, science, and the arts in order to understand the wisdom of the ages, respect the unity of all life, and help people explore spiritual self-transformation.

Its Ethic holds that our every action, feeling, and thought affects all other beings and that each of us is capable of and responsible for contributing to the benefit of the whole.

Three Objects

The Philosophy of the Society

The Society is dedicated to promoting the unity of humanity; to foster religious and racial understanding by encouraging the study of religion, philosophy and science; and to further the discovery of the spiritual aspect of life and of human beings. The Society stands for a complete freedom of individual search and belief, while promoting in its members a willingness to examine any concept and belief with an open mind, and a respect for other people’s understanding.

The Seal of the Theosophical Society

Brief History of the Theosophical Society

The Theosophical Society was founded in late 1875, in New York City, by Russian noblewoman Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and American Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, along with attorney William Quan Judge and a number of other individuals interested in the philosophy expounded by Madame Blavatsky.